Drilling in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to get fast reviewWashington Post, July 19, 2018
The Trump administration is moving ahead with its plans to open up the refuge’s coastal plain to energy exploration. An expedited environmental review allows three months to respond to hundreds of thousands of public comments.

America’s lands are in danger. Help us fight the sell off.The Guardian, June 5, 2017
“We’re here to unwind claims the federal government has on this land,” said Bundy, a Mormon cattle rancher in southern Nevada, after he and two dozen heavily armed militiamen forcibly took over the Malheur wildlife refuge, a central Oregon bird sanctuary, in January last year.

What is the Antiquities Act and Why Does Trump Want to Change It?New York Times, April 27, 2017
Given the Trump administration’s recent actions — including lifting the moratorium on drilling on federal lands and the obligation to limit methane emissions on public lands — officials might be eyeing new fossil fuel leases on previously protected land.

Commercial Beef Cattle in America’s National Parks: Are You Serious?National Parks and Conservation Association, July 3, 2012More than a dozen of America’s national parks carry “grandfather clauses” that allow privately owned beef cattle to eat and trample national park resources while their owners pay just a token fee to lease these grazing privileges from the National Park Service.

Drilling in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to get fast reviewWashington Post, July 19, 2018
The Trump administration is moving ahead with its plans to open up the refuge’s coastal plain to energy exploration. An expedited environmental review allows three months to respond to hundreds of thousands of public comments.

What is the Antiquities Act and Why Does Trump Want to Change It?New York Times, April 27, 2017
Given the Trump administration’s recent actions — including lifting the moratorium on drilling on federal lands and the obligation to limit methane emissions on public lands — officials might be eyeing new fossil fuel leases on previously protected land.

Commercial Beef Cattle in America’s National Parks: Are You Serious?National Parks and Conservation Association, July 3, 2012More than a dozen of America’s national parks carry “grandfather clauses” that allow privately owned beef cattle to eat and trample national park resources while their owners pay just a token fee to lease these grazing privileges from the National Park Service.

What and Who Are Parks For?

National Park Service Seeks to Ease Tensions with Pt Reyes FarmersLos Angeles Times, May 26, 2014
The park service charges ranchers a grazing fee of just $7 a month for a cow and a calf. That fee on private land in neighboring communities ranges from $16 to $25. The homesteads where some ranch families live are leased to them by the park at less than market rates.

Ranchers Allowed 5-Year Extension to graze cattle in the SeashoreSan Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 2017
The controversy has caused a split in Marin County over what constitutes good environmental practices — allow ranchers to let their cattle graze the grasslands, or leave the land in its most natural state without the pollution, erosion and other effects of grazing that impact native tule elk and other wildlife?

Point Reyes’ tule elk dilemmaSan Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 2016
The largest land mammals native to California are fast becoming a common sight on coastal ranchland and along the rugged shoreline in Marin County. They are a symbol of conservation success at the 71,028-acre seashore, which draws nearly 3 million visitors a year. Many tourists come to the seashore specifically to see the magnificent creatures, which can weigh up to 800 pounds.

California drought causes cattle and elk to lock horns over pastureDrovers, April 20,2015
Ranchers and farmers who live and work within the 71,000-acre (287-square km) Point Reyes National Seashore, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of San Francisco, want the free-roaming elk fenced in so their livestock do not have to compete for grass. Wildlife advocates and many park users are opposed after almost half of the majestic elks died while living in a 2,600-acre fenced-in area in the northern part of the park

Public lands belong to all Americans
Wildlands Defense
Public lands ranching is the most ubiquitous use of public lands in the country, occurring on over 250,000,000 acres of land, an area roughly the size of the states of California and Texas combined.

Early fall bloom of a yampah (Perideridia gairdneri and P. kelloggii) dominated prairie. Part of the coastal prairie restoration effort at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Occidental, CA.

Why Restore Point Reyes?

The Ten National Parks with the Most Endangered SpeciesNational Conservation and Parks Association, May 2, 2018
National parks are critical for protecting the animals and plants that live in them, and no park denizens need that protection more than endangered species. According to the Endangered Species Act, an endangered species is an animal or plant in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future throughout all of a significant portion of its range.

The Sad Truth of Using Public Lands for GrazingThe Hill, March 30,2018
It is a well-known fact that livestock operations produce significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Converting deep-rooted perennial grasses native to the region to shallow-rooted annual grasses from Europe in livestock pastures also depletes the land’s ability to sequester carbon. While ranchers claim they’re trying to reduce their carbon footprint, in reality livestock removal is a far more effective option from a climate change standpoint.

Restoring California’s Coastal EcosystemsUnion of Concerned Scientists, April 13, 2017
The forces of urbanization and agriculture have made California’s coastal grassland and scrub ecosystems among the most endangered in the nation. The challenge is finding the balance between meeting the needs of people and conserving these ecosystems and the many species that depend on them, including humans.

Prairies and GrassesNational Park Service
Less than one percent of California’s native grassland is still intact today. By 1850, dairy ranchers had arrived at Point Reyes, lured by the near-ideal conditions for raising cattle. Since then, ranchers planted many non-native grasses, many of which were invasive and began to out-compete the native grasses.

Invasive Plants Changing Our Natural EcosystemsNational Park Service
Population Action International and Conservation International have determined that the California Floristic Province (CFP) is a “global biodiversity hotspot”–one of only 25 terrestrial regions worldwide where biological diversity is most concentrated and the threat of loss most severe (Cincotta and Engleman 2000; Conservation International 2007). Forty percent of California’s grass species are exotic; today it is rare to find a pristine native California coastal prairie community, and the dominance of exotic grasses over native bunch grass species could increase with global warming (Sandel and Dangremond 2012).

A Campaign to Restore California’s Coastal PrairieBay Nature, June 25, 2012
California’s coastal prairies are incredibly diverse, with nearly twice as many species as any other grassland in North America, many of which are endangered. During surveys, as many as 70 species could regularly be found in a single 10-meter-square plot.

“O

ur National Parks belong to each of us, and they are natural places to learn, exercise, volunteer, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy the magnificent beauty of our great land.”

President George W. Bush
Announcement of National Park Week, April 16, 2008